Nicholas Lemann, dean of Columbia’s Graduate School of Journalism, will be stepping down at the end of the current academic year, the school announced on Wednesday morning. (The news broke in the media world on Tuesday afternoon.)
“I am proud to have completed a decade-long term as dean of the Journalism School, and excited about the prospect of a great new dean’s leading the school to new heights during the term to come,” Lemann said in a press release from the school, which is CJR’s parent organization. Lemann, the release adds, will take a year off from the j-school and then return as faculty. He will also continue to be a New Yorker staff writer.
During Lemann’s tenure, he created the school’s MA program, an optional second year of topic-specific journalism study beyond the generalist bent of the foundational MS program, and oversaw the addition of the school’s student center.
University President Lee Bollinger will lead the search for Lemann’s replacement, according to the press release.
Kira Goldenberg was an associate editor at CJR from 2012-2015. Follow her on Twitter at @kiragoldenberg.